Frantic Romantic
by A Scarlet Rebel
Summary: When Percy and Annabeth get called on an unexpected quest for Artemis and Apollo after the war, things get a little complicated. Percy's paranoided, Annabeth's allowing other boys to flirt with her. Will their relationship survive the blows?
1. Late Night Ride

Frantic Romantic

Chapter 1:

Late Night Ride

Annabeth was sitting in her office, working on her blueprints for Olympus at her desk. She didn't notice that someone had just entered her office.

Percy snuck in the office, trying not to make a sound. When he got behind Annabeth, he put one hand over both of her eyes.

Annabeth was startled. She wasn't expecting anyone that evening.

She felt the hand that was over her eyes. It was a warm, familiar hand that she had held more than once.

"Percy?" she said.

He removed his hand from her eyes and said, "Hey beautiful."

He handed her the flowers in his other hand. They were roses, but something about them wasn't like your ordinary roses. They were silver and glowing.

Annabeth gasped. "Oh, Percy, they're beautiful," she said, scooping them up with her hands. "Where did you get them?"

"Well, remember my mom started planting that garden?"

She nodded.

"She was experimenting with breeding flowers. These are moon-lace and rose. I call it Moon Rose."

Annabeth laughed and said, "Well they're beautiful."

Percy smiled. "Not as beautiful as you."

She set the flowers in a vase full of water. Then turned back to Percy and gave him a hug.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

Percy looked insulted. "Your boyfriend can't even come to see you?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Yes, but what are you doing _here?_ On Olympus, in my office, at midnight."

"I thought I'd see how your plans for this place are going," he said, reaching over to one of her blueprints.

"No, no, no," she said, taking the blueprints away. "This is all top-secret. I'm sorry Percy, but I can't show you."

"Oh, I see," Percy said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "You can't show _me,_ your boyfriend?"

Annabeth shook her head.

"Your Seaweed Brain. You can't trust him anymore?"

Annabeth opened her mouth to protest, but he only smiled and put his arm around her waist.

"C'mon," he said, steering her out of the office, "our ride is waiting."

"What ride?" Annabeth asked, standing rooted to where she was. "Percy, I have to work. These blueprints need to be ready in a few more days, and I can't just—"

She was cut off by Percy, who turned to her and said, "_Come on_," in a pleading voice. "We've only got three weeks until we start school, and I want to spend some time with you. Please," he said, grabbing her hands to hold them. "You have a lot of time to finish those."

"I don't know Percy," she said, turning away from him but not letting go of his hands, "I've still got a lot to finish. I mean, there's—"

She was cut off yet again, but this time not by words, but by the fact that Percy had let go of her hands, swooped down and picked her up in his arms.

Annabeth gave a yell, but a surprised one.

"Percy!" she said, half yelling, half laughing. "Put me down!"

But he just laughed and said, "I don't think so, Wise Girl!"

Annabeth started laughing as Percy walked out of the office with her in his arms. Every few steps, he'd spin in a circle and she'd just laugh harder.

They walked and spun on until they got to a grassy area outside with a bench.

He finally set her down on the bench, though reluctantly. But he didn't sit down next to her; he got down on one knee and fished around in his pocket. Then he pulled out a little box, just big enough for a ring.

He cleared his throat and said, "Annabeth Chase?"

Annabeth's eyes were wide. She nodded slowly and gave a feeble "Uh-huh."

"Will you," he opened the box, but what was in it wasn't a ring, it was a small silver whistle, "go for a ride with me?"

She released a sigh and punched him in the shoulder. "Don't scare me like that Seaweed Brain." But she just laughed and said, "Yes, I'd love to go for a ride with you."

Percy smiled and got up.

"What's the whistle for, anyway?" Annabeth asked.

He turned to look at her. "Would you like to blow it?"

Annabeth looked at the whistle with caution. "First I want to know what it's _for."_

Percy laughed. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad." He stretched out his hand that had the box and the whistle in it. "It's just going to call Blackjack."

She took the box from him carefully and pulled the whistle out. It had a carving in it of a pegasus. Below it was the word 'Blackjack' engraved in Ancient Greek. Annabeth slowly put the whistle up to her lips and blew on it.

They had to wait only about thirty seconds for Blackjack to appear.

He landed on the grass two feet away from them.

_Hey boss._

Percy turned to Annabeth and grinned. He held out his hand for her to take. "Shall we?"

She looked at him, a little doubtful. "Are you sure we should be going?"

Percy kept his hand extended and said, "You trust me, don't you?"

Annabeth smiled and took his hand. "I trust you, Percy."

They climbed on Blackjack. Annabeth held on to Percy's waist.

Percy thought he heard snickering. It was coming from directly in front of him.

"Blackjack," he said with a tone of warning in his voice, "is something wrong?"

_No, boss. N-Nothing's wrong._

Percy could tell he was choking back laughter. "If nothing's really wrong, then let's go."

Blackjack took off. Percy could feel Annabeth tense behind him.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"Nothing, it's just that… it's a long way down Percy."

"Don't worry," he said, "you're with me, and I'd never do anything that would hurt you."

Annabeth's grip tightened around his waist. He could hear Blackjack's snickers in the front.

"Blackjack," he said, exasperated, "what is it?"

_Nothing boss. _Now he wasn't even trying to hide his laughter. _Gee, that Athena girl sure looks pretty, don't you think?_

Percy groaned. "Not you too." He leaned in and whispered in Blackjack's ear, "And her name is Annabeth."

They kept soaring through the New York air, the city alive with light. He could hear Annabeth catch her breath as she saw all the radiant buildings full of light.

After a while, they finally landed in Central Park. Percy got off Blackjack first and then helped Annabeth down.

"OK Blackjack," he said, "you can go now."

Blackjack was still snickering. _I don't know, boss. I thought I'd stick around for a while and protect you from any monsters, maybe call one of my lady pegasus friends—_

"Blackjack." Percy's voice was now full of warning.

_Fine, fine, I'm going. Geez._ And with that, he flew off into the night, leaving Percy and Annabeth alone.

Annabeth wasn't sure what to do. All of her dates with Percy were planned, and usually, they just went to dinner or a movie. He never really was the type to do mysterious, unexpected things.

"So," she said, unsure of what to do. She didn't have to go on wondering what to do much longer, because Percy had just laced his arm through hers.

"Let's go," he said, guiding them ahead.

They stopped in front of a tree with a bench underneath it. Percy led Annabeth to the bench. They both sat down, holding hands.

"This is nice," she said, putting her head on his shoulder, growing relaxed, letting her worries slip away from her.

"Yeah," he said, stroking her hair with his free hand. It _was _nice here, he thought. With her, the war being over, at peace.

They sat there in silence for a while, enjoying the quiet and stillness around them.

"Percy?" Annabeth said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah."

She looked up into his eyes, taking her head off his shoulder. "What if the war's not _really _over?"

Percy looked at her with a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "What if this is only the beginning? What if, the Titans come back?"

Percy didn't know how to answer that. The fight was never really over if you're a half-blood. But he just answered, "Listen, could we not talk about this right now? Let's just focus on the fact that we're both here and alive, together."

She smiled. "You're right," she said, putting her hands around his neck. "Starting with this."

She leaned in, her eyes closed, and so did Percy. It seemed so perfect. He was going to kiss her.

He _was_ going to, until there was a flash of sliver light that made them break apart.

It would've been nice if he could've said it was only someone's headlights.

It would've been nice if it didn't happen to begin with.

But of course, it did. And the worst part of it all was that Percy recognized those lights.

It was the light of Artemis's chariot.


	2. The twins

Chapter 2:

The Twins

Percy and Annabeth shot up from the bench, startled. The glowing silver light was getting closer and stronger. It became so bright, they had to turn away.

When the light faded enough so they could see again, they turned around to face Artemis's chariot.

Annabeth grabbed Percy's hand protectively and they stepped forward cautiously, still a little startled. What seemed to be a peaceful afternoon together, alone, was now shattered into a million pieces.

Inside the chariot was their good friend Thalia, head of the Hunters. She smiled at them. Along with her were five other Hunters, and a girl, about the age of eleven: Artemis.

Percy also noticed that they weren't the only ones in the chariot. There was a boy, about sixteen or seventeen wearing a pair of shades and a cocky grin: Apollo.

Why he was there, Percy had no clue. So he stepped even further forward.

"Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase," Artemis said, suddenly. "We are sorry we dropped in without notifying you, but this was an urgent matter. We could not take any chances."

Percy looked up at her, mystified, "I just have one question."

Artemis nodded.

"Why are you _all_ in the same chariot?"

Thalia rolled her eyes at him. "It's enchanted."

"And," Apollo chimed in, "we would have taken mine, but," he stared pointedly at Artemis, "my _sister_ thought it would have frightened the mortals to see the sun over New York at twelve-thirty at night."

Thalia scoffed at Percy. "So long being a demigod, and yet so ignorant."

They all got off of the chariot. Percy thought it looked they had just gotten out of a clown car. One by one they got off, when he noticed there were two more people on board.

They were a girl and a boy, most likely related. They both had the same fiery red hair. They looked to be around the same age, fifteen or sixteen. The girl had her hair in pigtails; a slightly bored expression draped her face. The boy, however, seemed a little bashful. The fact that he seemed to be hiding behind the girl when he got off the chariot confirmed Percy's observation.

He and Annabeth were now surrounded by these people, each in their own little groups: the Hunters together, except for Thalia, Artemis and Apollo talking amongst themselves, and the boy and girl alone. About five minutes ago, it was a private walk around Central Park and Annabeth was going to kiss Percy. Now that was _gone._

Thalia was the first to properly greet them. "Hey guys," she said. She smiled at them and looked down at their joined hands. "So, I can see you've been busy."

Annabeth blushed, but Percy only pulled her in tighter, closer to him. He suddenly felt very defensive towards her. He almost lost her several times in the war; he wasn't going to take _any_ chances.

Thalia looked around as if looking for someone, then groaned and said, "Oh my god. He fell asleep."

She marched back to the chariot at a very determined speed. She reached in and pulled something hard. Percy heard a yelp from the chariot. A familiar yelp.

"Get up, Goat Boy. We're here."

Percy's eyes widened. The questions that thumped inside of him were all answered when he saw a familiar tuft of curly hair and a slightly pale face looking up at him.

Grover looked at Thalia and said, "You didn't have to pull my hair!"

Percy softly let go of Annabeth's hand and walked over to his best friend. "G-man!" he said, excitedly.

Grover grinned. "Percy!" He rushed over to give him a hug. "How've you been?"

"Oh, you know, I've been pretty well. How about you? I thought you were supposed to be searching for more half-bloods."

Grover gave him a pat on the back. "I have, I just found a powerful pair of them." He pointed over to the two redheaded siblings. "You see those two?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah."

"Well," he said, in a hushed voice that only Percy could hear, while Thalia and Annabeth talked to each other. "They're fraternal twins of Apollo. There was a very powerful aura around them. When I brought them to Camp Half-blood, Artemis and Apollo were at the top of Half-blood Hill, waiting for us. They took us in their chariots to go pick you up. They wouldn't explain a thing."

"Wow," Percy muttered, looking back at the twins. They really _did _look like twins. The same red hair, the same blue eyes. He was surprised he didn't notice it before.

They just seemed to be off to one side, not really involved, just sort of standing there.

"The girl's name is Francine," Grover continued, "and the boy's name is Franklin. Franny and Frankie for short. They're really powerful. I mean _really_ powerful. I haven't actually seen them put their powers to the test, but their _smell_. Their smell is so _powerful_. I mean, when I was sitting in Algebra two with them, my nose was twitching so much, I sneezed after almost every problem!"

Percy looked over at the twins again. They didn't really _look _all that powerful. But Grover's nose never lies; he had found that out the hard way.

"Do they know they're Apollo's children?"

"Yeah," Grover said. "When we got to camp, he claimed them before taking us away."

"And did you explain the whole half-blood thing?"

"Only a little. I mentioned that they were children of a god and a mortal and that they had powers. That the Greek gods still existed and all that."

Percy turned to him, eyebrows raised. "And how'd they take it?"

"Well," Grover said, rubbing the back of his neck, "let's just say, Franny has a very, um, _bright_ vocabulary."

Artemis spoke up suddenly from where she stood next to Apollo. "We must get going. We haven't got time to lose."

So they all boarded the chariot, except for Percy and Annabeth.

"Are you sure we'll _all_ fit in there?" Percy asked Artemis.

She smiled at him. "I'm positive."

They got on and found that the chariot was _a lot_ bigger than it looked. They all had elbow room, but Percy held Annabeth around the waist, just to make sure she wouldn't linger off.

Artemis looked at Apollo. "Ready when you are, brother."

Apollo nodded. "It's your chariot…."

Artemis started up the chariot and flew up into the New York night. Percy stood there, wondering where they were going, and what it had to do with those two twins. And, more importantly, why did Percy and Annabeth have to go?


	3. New Threats

Chapter 3:

New Threats

While they flew through the night sky, peaceful and quiet, the terrain began to become rocky and full of trees: They were moving toward woods.

As the city disappeared behind them, Percy began to wonder exactly _where _they were going.

Once the city was _long gone,_ the chariot began to swoop toward the ground. They were landing.

The chariot floor shook underneath them as it came abruptly to a semi-halt. The stoppers on the bottom of the chariot could be heard scraping harshly against the ground, making them all cringe. They were all lurched forward as they chariot shook against the hard ground.

Annabeth was thrown into Percy as the chariot continued to stir, causing their faces to be just barely inches apart. Annabeth blushed a bright red as she hastily attempted to step back to her original standing point. But, that didn't work out too well, because when she was lurched forward, so was everyone else. So, instead of moving slightly away from him, she ended up being pushed deeper into his arms by Grover's elbow.

When the chariot had finally stopped and they had all sorted out the confusion among them, they all straightened up and looked around.

Percy gave a sigh of relief. They had finally landed. _Crash landed_, yes, but they had landed, nonetheless.

Percy looked toward the front of the chariot to see Apollo at the controls, quietly cursing himself underneath his breath.

On their way off of the chariot, Percy could hear Artemis muttering, "That's the last time I ever let _you_ drive the chariot… only used to those blasted cars… stupid brothers…."

As they all got off of the clown-chariot, Percy looked around. They were at what seemed to be an open area where they could camp for the night. There was a lake not too far away. He slowly inhaled.

Water. The only place he ever _really_ felt at home.

The Hunters unpacked what seemed to be camping packs. They began setting up tents and collecting firewood.

Once the camp was all set up, a fire burning in the middle of the circle of tents, Artemis and Apollo spoke up from where they sat.

"Now," Artemis began, "to assign you your tents. There will be two people per tent, and you shall be separated by gender. Since there are eight of my Hunters on this little expedition, two girls will share a tent. And… Percy Jackson?"

He looked up. "Yes?"

"You shall be sharing a tent with Franklin Williams, AND Grover Underwood. One of the tents has enough room for three."

Percy looked over at where the fiery haired twins sat. The boy didn't look too scary, he actually looked terrified himself.

"Annabeth Chase?"

Annabeth nodded.

"You will be sharing a tent with Francine Williams."

She looked over at the girl, like Percy had done with the boy, and grimaced slightly at the idea of sharing a tent with such a bored-looking girl, that looked about as tough as Thalia.

Apollo yawned and rubbed his eyelids. "Well, I'm beat. One long trip can take a lot out of you! I'm going to go hit the hay."

The two gods on the trip, of course, got their own tents.

"I am going to sleep as well." Artemis announced, heading for her own tent. Before she turned to go inside, she turned toward the rest of them and said, "All of you might want to get some sleep. I expect we shall have a rough day ahead of us."

As she walked into her tent, the Hunters followed her lead and began going into their own tents.

Thalia got up from where she sat on a log and stretched.

"Artemis is right guys," she said, barely being able to contain a yawn. "Tomorrow will be rough, and we need our rest." She waved at them half-heartedly. "Good night."

The five of them, Percy, Annabeth, Grover and the mysterious twins, sat there a little longer, just staring into the fire.

When the silence became too unbearable, Annabeth spoke up.

"I'm going to bed too. I have no idea what going to happen tomorrow, but I want to at least be ready for it."

Percy nodded in agreement, getting up.

Eventually, they all made their ways to each of their tents, trying to get ready for what was to come.

The next morning, the day started off normal enough. They all awoke to find another fire burning in the middle.

Everybody had already awoken when Percy step out of his tent.

"Well, you certainly overslept," Thalia teased when he sleepily sat on a log in front of the fire.

Percy leaned closer to Annabeth and said, "So, how was your night?"

She moaned slightly and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Horrible!" she said in a whisper. "The tent was cold and wet and," she said, leaning even closer so no one could hear, "I've found out that Franny snores! Really loudly."

Percy laughed lightly as he ate what the Hunters had brought along on the trip.

Once they were all done, the afternoon was fairly normal too. They all performed regular tasks around the little camp, like collecting fire wood and keeping it burning and hunting for food. Nothing major.

But Artemis and Apollo sure seemed secretive. Whenever the subject of the entire trip or quest, or whatever this thing that Percy didn't know was supposed to be, came up, their lips stayed sealed. They never said a word about what was to come.

Later that afternoon, when it was time to eat lunch, Percy noticed something strange. Something that sort of upset him. That thing was the fact that Frankie kept staring at Annabeth. His eyes darted back and forth between her face and the floor. He blushed every time his eyes found the ground again.

Percy felt strange. Like something was pulling at his gut. And the weirdest part was, Annabeth had noticed too, and she didn't really seem to mind.

Percy had never felt jealously towards anyone, except Luke, which it turned out that Annabeth never even liked him. He remembered the feelings of jealousy clearly, like a knife cutting through his memories. The anger. The frustration. The fear of losing her. It all rang in his ears like an alarm.

He was slowly feeling the anger begin to bubble inside of him, swelling like waves.

He decided to leave little "Frankie" a hint that Annabeth was taken and strung his arm gently around her waist.

After they were all finished eating, Percy could see Frankie getting up form where he sat and slowly approaching Annabeth and himself. He had something in his hand.

While everyone was busy with chores, he approached them.

"Hi," he said, sheepishly.

"Hello," Annabeth replied in a cheery voice, smiling. "You must be Franklin."

"Call me Frankie, Franklin is way too formal for me." He smiled back.

Uh oh. Here came the anger again. Percy had the sudden desire to hit "Frankie" in the face. But, he managed to control himself just enough to say, "Nice to finally meet you."

That was a GIANT lie.

"What are your names?"

"Where are our manners," Annabeth said, extending her hand for his to shake. "I'm Annabeth Chase, and this is Percy Jackson."

As he shook her hand, Percy could see the redness forming on his neck. Now it was Percy's turn to shake his hand. He took it bitterly and gave Frankie a stare that plainly said, 'Back off, and I won't hurt you.'

But, apparently, this kid didn't seem to be able to take a hint! No, now he turned to Annabeth and opened his other hand slowly, revealing a single red flower.

"Here," he said shyly, "it's for you."

Percy had to control every fiber in his being not to strangle the kid. And, here's the saddest part of it all that made Percy look like he was fighting a losing battle, she took the flower, and smiled. SMILED!!

"Aw, thank you." She grinned at him, causing Frankie to swell with pride.

The turd.

Percy had a lot to think about that day.

After Frankie had succeeded in talking to Annabeth, he was hanging around her a lot more.

Was he really after his girl?

What was going on that Apollo and Artemis were hiding?

Were they on the brink of another war?

But, one thing proved to be sure. A lot of things were out there, proving to be real threats to everything.

To all demigod's lives.

To Olympus.

To the world as we know it… or _knew_ it.

Frankie was one of those threats.


	4. Bigger Problems

Chapter 4:

Bigger Problems

The next morning, Percy got up, feeling very grouchy.

What were they even doing on this expedition?

Why didn't anyone bother to tell him what was going on?

Was Frankie _really_ a problem to him?

Percy had no idea what to think. The only thing that he felt was moodiness and annoyance.

He didn't even bother hiding his frustration and anger at their camp fire breakfast.

Percy made his way to the camp fire that surrounded their tents. He plopped down on a log next to Grover and angrily crossed his arms, just looking into the fire with absolutely _no_ desire to eat at all.

"Morning Perc," Grover said, a tin can in his mouth, so it would have been pretty hard to understand him if Percy hadn't known him for so long.

"Morning," Percy huffily replied. Grover was too busy chewing away at his can to notice the irritation in his voice.

Besides the two, the only others around the camp fire were a pair of Hunters and Franny, one of the twins. She just sat on a log, her knees hugged to her chest. She was staring intently at the flames, seeming as confused as Percy was. He had been so preoccupied by his own problems and aggravation that he didn't stop to think about the twins, who had _just_ discovered they were half-bloods. Not only is it shocking enough to discover that you are the child of a god, but now these brothers and sisters were on their first quest, without _any_ training whatsoever. He almost felt sorry for them, so confused to be thrown into a world they weren't even familiar with and expect to fight.

Suddenly, Franny looked up from the flames and caught Percy just looking at her. She seemed to sneer slightly, but then the grimace that had been forming on her lips disappeared, only to be replaced by a dry smile that meant nothing.

"Hi," she said coldly, her brown eyes seeming to glow with the flames dangerously. In that one syllable, she had said enough to cause Percy to look away and stare back at the ground, not daring to say another word.

A ruffling noise abruptly came from one of the tents, causing Percy to look up.

Annabeth walked out of the tent she was supposed to share with Franny, rubbing her eyes and yawning slightly.

"Good morning, everyone," she said sleepily, and then made her way to the log next to Percy's. She sat down and addressed the two boys. "Morning, Percy," she said, then turned to Grover and waved in greeting, saying, "Hey, Goat Boy."

Grover just mumbled, "Um-hmm," another can making its way down his throat already.

Percy merely stared after her as she sat down in the log to his left, her blonde hair messily tossed over her shoulder. Even when she wasn't trying, she always seemed to look striking. Even when she just woke up, Percy could honestly say she was beautiful.

With her grey eyes fixed on the breakfast the Hunters had ready, Annabeth ate and Percy just stared at the ground.

Percy had been planning on confronting her about Frankie, but, how could he? How could be mad at Annabeth about anything?

Another sound interrupted his train of thought. This time, the tent door that was ruffled open was Artemis's tent.

Thalia stepped out, looking worried, which wasn't very often for her. Behind her came Artemis and Apollo, both looking grim and anxious.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and just looked at the god and goddess. Their anxious faces caused them to freeze, awaiting the announcements that they seemed to be itching to make.

Apollo was the first of the two to speak.

"Ah, Percy, Annabeth, glad to see that you two are awake." He smiled sheepishly, which turned out to look more like a gas smile, because of its acridness.

Artemis spoke next.

"We need you two in the tent, immediately." She stopped for a second, as if debating what to say next. "It… it has to do with this voyage we are all taking. It's of the utmost importance."

Her tone told them all that it really _was_ important, and that it might change the very world as they know it… or _knew_ it.

Without hesitation, Percy and Annabeth stood up; both now pale from Artemis' and Apollo's attitudes and their little announcement.

Apollo nodded, walking back into the tent with Artemis not too far behind him. Thalia walked in too, without a single word to either demigod. They both walked up to the tent side by side, barely able to say a word.

Percy pulled back the flap of the tent, seeing it was a lot larger than he thought it would be. Well, this didn't come as much of a surprise, after seeing Artemis's chariot, and its abundant space.

This was it. This was the time that they were finally going to find out what they were even doing here. But, yet… they were afraid. Not knowing was always frustrating and hard to go through. When you don't know, you're dying to know the truth. But… the truth can sometimes be too much to handle; it can almost be like a burden upon you, one that you must always carry after you learn it. Percy wasn't sure which he liked better: Living in blissful ignorance or knowing the truth.

Once they got in, the two gods took their positions in front of them. Apollo rubbed his hands together nervously, while Artemis's lips were sealed in almost a straight line out of tension. Thalia just stood by Artemis, not sure of what to do but stand there.

Percy broke the uncomfortable silence, not able to stand it any longer.

"OK… so, you said you were going to tell us why we are here, right?" Percy asked, feeling slightly fidgety.

"That is correct," Artemis spoke, her voice so serious, it cut like ice.

"Well then… when were you planning on telling us?" he persisted.

Apollo suddenly sighed, then whispered to his sister, "We'll have to tell them sooner or later, why not now?"

The tent was so quiet, their silent whisper-argument filled the tent.

"Yes, brother, I guess we could, but these things can't just be announced without any warning--"

"We _did_ warn them about what we were going to say, _sister--"_

"But, not for a matter as big as this one."

"They'll find out in the end, so we might as well tell them--"

"Okay! If you insist, let's tell them!" Artemis took a deep breath to calm herself before going on. "Mister Jackson, Miss Chase, we Olympians are in serious danger."

Annabeth scrunched her eyebrows together and spoke up. "What do you mean? The Titans are gone, and Olympus is being rebuilt. Nothing was a threat as Kronos was destroyed."

"Yes," Apollo went on, "that is true. Or… _was _true."

"You see, we thought we were all safe when the Titans seemed to fade," Artemis explained, "but we didn't take into consideration that some of the Titans could rise _without_ Kronos."

"What are you saying?" Percy asked. "That… the Titans are rising without Kronos?"

Apollo took a deep breath and enlightened them a little more on the subject. "Just like the Gods _could_ function without Zeus, the Titans can function without Kronos. And only _some_ of the Titans are rising. More specifically, the two Titans that share realms with my sister and I, more or less, and that have proved to be problems to us before."

Percy had to think for a second, scanning his brain for every Titan he knew or remembered. But, immediately after he had began to think and was still processing all of this information, Annabeth gasped from where she stood next to him, moving forward slightly to announce her obvious realization.

"You mean… Hyperion, the Titan of burning light. And… and Krios, the Lord of the South and the Constellations."

"Precisely, Annabeth," Artemis answered, nodding.

Percy could barely think. Titans were rising? But… how could this be? Suddenly, he remembered who Hyperion and Krios were. Then, his mind was bombarded with questions and doubt.

"Wait," Percy began, his mouth slowly finding the ability to from words again. "I thought Hyperion was defeated by Grover. He turned him into a maple tree. How… how could he be rising?"

"Percy, Titans are very powerful, almost as powerful as the Gods," Artemis explained. "Hyperion could have broken the woodland magic that Grover performed on him and restored himself to his Titan form."

"But," Apollo added, "not without the help of another Titan. And that's where Krios comes in."

"You see," Artemis picked up the explanation again, "when we destroyed Kronos, it was very clear that some Titans were gone for good or at least for a _long_ time along with Kronos. But others only seemed to have faded slightly; we weren't very sure about those. We figured that they were gone, now that they had no one to follow."

She stopped to take a deep breath of frustration. She rubbed her temples, suddenly seeming as if the world lay on her shoulders. Artemis seemed to be aging slightly. But… she was immortal, so how could this be? Then, Percy remembered what he had learned about the Gods, and what happened to them when their realms weren't doing well. They all seemed to age when that happened. Now, Artemis looked like a girl of about fifteen, instead of her usual looks of a girl of about twelve.

She kept going, despite that. "We were all arrogant and stupid to think that the Titans would just disappear when we brought Kronos down. We all should have seen this coming."

Now that Percy looked at him, Apollo, the usually carefree older brother of Artemis's, looked like he was aging too. Things must be worse than they seemed from the surface.

"Basically, Krios rose again, not having faded fully when the other Titans were destroyed, and aided Hyperion in escaping the woodland magic that you satyr friend, Grover, casted on him that turned him into a maple tree," Apollo added.

Percy could barely being to fathom all of this at once. So… the Titans _were_ rising?

Before he could finish thinking about it all, Artemis broke in with one final announcement:

"That is why we called on the two of you, since you have experience fighting forces like these. We didn't know who else to turn to."

"But, why don't we get all of Camp Half-blood to help out?" Annabeth asked.

"Because we don't want to alarm everyone about this," Apollo responded, and then added, "since we don't know exactly _how_ powerful these two will get."

After that, everyone stood there in silence, knowing that they had heard everything that needed to be said.

The only thoughts going through Percy's head were the bigger problems and obstacles ahead of them.

This _wasn't_ going to be a quiet summer.


End file.
